The Arabist

By Issandr El Amrani and friends.

Ibn Khaldoun Center on Albright

The Ibn Khaldoun Center, the institution which hosted last week's meeting with Madeline Albright (and others) in Cairo, has published a press release on the event. Since there has been some discussion of this meeting over the past few days, I am posting it in full here.

I also wanted to mention something else that might enlighten readers about how such events are frequently spun in what is known in Egypt as al sahafa al safra ("the yellow press"). The "independent" weekly Al Osboa ("The Week"), which has strong ties to the security apparatus, had as the following front-page, top-fold headline: "The Deceitful Visit: Albright attacks our house." It was accompanied with a most unflattering picture of Albright and Saad Eddin Ibrahim.

I'll have more to say about this and how it ties in with reform and Bush's inauguration speech soon. But first, I have to finish an article (the kind I get paid for) on the topic.